Analytical and finite element analysis of stress concentration factors for polyvinylchloride reinforced with different types of short fibers

The objective of the current research is to study the effect of a central circular hole as a stress raiser and to obtain the corresponding stress concentration factors for polyvinyl chloride (PVC) reinforced with different types of short fibers. Five different types of fibers were used: glass wool (GW), rock wool (RW), cotton wool (CW), and glass fiber with two types (YGT101 and E6-CR). The fibers of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, and 50% were used for sample preparation. On the other hand, two different types of samples were used: unnotched samples and notched samples with central holes of 1, 3, and 5 mm in diameter. Tensile tests were carried out on dog bone samples according to ASTM D638 using a universal tensile testing machine. The experimental results showed that the tensile strength of the PVC/fiber composites decreases with the increase of wt% of the fibers, whereas the PVC/E6-CR fiber composites displayed different behaviors. On the other hand, the results obtained for stress concentration factors from finite element analysis models and analytical methods showed that there is no effect for the types of fibers, and additionally, the stress concentration factors obtained from the different models were approximately the same, with differences not more than 10% for the same hole diameter.